Festival proceeds are handed out

Several thousand visitors enjoyed Castle Bytham’s Midsummer Festival in June and thousands of pounds were raised for local community groups.

At a community event in Castle Bytham Village Hall last Monday, Kate Goodman, chairman of the festival committee, and Patrick Candler, chairman of Bythams Music, presented cheques totalling £6,400 to local community groups and good causes.

The money was raised over the course of the two-day festival in June through the sale of food and drink on the events field and in the village hall, as well as the tombola, duck race and market stall pitches.

Kate said she was delighted the festival had been such an enjoyable event, and particularly pleased that more community groups than ever had taken part this year and contributed to the event’s success.

This had enabled grants to be made to a greater number of organisations than had previously been possible, and further helped to develop the community spirit of the Bythams area.

Patrick echoed these sentiments and confirmed that proceeds from Saturday’s Bythams Music event would once again provide funds for the wider Bythams parishes and, in particular, the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance.

From festival funds, Castle Bytham Village Hall and St James’ Church both received £800. The free monthly Bythams magazine, The Glenside, received £500, as did the Friends Of Bythams School. The 1st Colsterworth Cubs received £250, and the 1st Corby Glen Scout Group got £100 to supplement its car park bucket collection. Castle Bytham seniors’ and children’s Christmas parties received £100 each, and the Castle Bytham Community Shop project received £200.

Bythams Music and the festival committee made joint donations to The Bythams Woodland Trust which runs the Spinney, a community woodland adventure play area, which received £500, and the Little Bytham Ladies group, which got £350.

Bythams Music made additional donations to the Lincs and Notts Air Ambulance (£1,000 ), Team George (£250) and the Village Voices (£50), while the churches at Little Bytham, Creeton and Careby shared a grant of £300.

The organisers hope that more funds will be handed out following a really successful fireworks night, and everyone is now looking forward to next year’s Midsummer Festival, which will be held on June 23 and 24, 2018.